Dressed For The Part
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day one thousand and seventy-one: With the costumes department having churned out all needed outfits, Rachel gathers the Rent company for a portrait session. - Project No Day But Today series - Day 7 of 7 in chazaff's birthday Rachel week


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 50th cycle. Now cycle 51!_

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**"Dressed For The Part"  
Rachel/Puck & Rent company  
Project No Day But Today series  
_(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)_  
**

**__********__********__********_A/N: This week is dedicated to dear chazzaf for her birthday.  
She asked for a 'Rachel week' and that is what she shall get!  
Today Rachel and... Puck [as a relationship]_**

With the expansion of their troupe, they would have expected stress and pressure to maintain the secret from their intrepid directors. But instead what they saw was… excitement. Things were happening, the show was coming together… This was good.

One progress had been in the costumes department, as led by Santana and Brittany. They had produced at least one of each of the costumes, for one or the other in shared roles. The team, consisting of Quinn, Mercedes, Alicia, and new additions Dana and Rose, had all worked in harmony to produce all that they had and it gave Rachel an idea.

She had called in all the cast to meet at her house, along with the costumes and hair and makeup departments. She had stood to address them.

"Thank you for coming. As costumes have informed us of their progress, I thought this would be the perfect time to immortalize our characters, with the clothes, and hair and makeup that comes along with it… We're going to take some photos today," she announced. She didn't know if she was trying to not let herself get disappointed, but when the announcement garnered some kind of excitement, it pleased her to no end.

Santana had reined in her group, while it had been up to Tina and Lizzie to organize their hair and makeup group, consisting of Ellie, Miranda, and new recruits Ivy, Peter, and Mandy, and ready them to do their part. Most of them had to be readied as well, but the others took priority.

One by one they went, receiving their costume and putting it on before being shuffled along to hair and makeup. The pool of readied 'characters' was growing, so they would then move to the basement, which was set up for the shoot. Artie and Mike manned the camera as, one by one, they stepped up to be photographed. They would move around, pose, getting into character… When particular pairings were available, they would step up together… The further they went, the harder it got for them not to get the giggles, but they would pull it together before the camera's flash.

Puck had not required much help once his costume was on, but still he waited… Roger would wait for his Mimi… If she ever got done…

"Are you ready?" he stood at the closed door. She'd gotten to hair and makeup now, though he couldn't see any of it.

"Just about, I… ow!"

"Sorry…" he heard Tina say, which he'd later hear had been caused by Tina accidentally pulling Rachel's hair when she turned to answer. He sighed, walking about as he waited. But then the door opened and he blinked when he saw her.

She really was transformed, make to become Mimi, who had her addiction, though she held herself together as much as she could. There was something about seeing Rachel in character that did something to him he couldn't explain. He smiled, and she smiled back.

"You've seen me in costume before," she shook her head.

"Not the real one, not like this…" he gestured toward her. Her eyebrow raised, as though asking what he thought. "You look beautiful… Messed up but beautiful," he told her, and she came up to him, fixing his collar.

"Not so bad yourself. Now, come on, let's go get our picture taken," she grabbed him by the jacket and they headed into the basement. Each in turn, they had gotten their solo portraits taken, then together…

Later, Rachel went through the mountain of pictures on her computer, while she'd set Puck to study, when he'd let it slip that he hadn't reviewed for a test they had on Monday. He sounded like a kid who'd been punished, but he got to it.

"I still don't know about printing them…" she told him, frowning. "If it's meant to be secret…"

"You're not going to take them to school, are you?" he asked, and she shook her head. "Then why are you so worried?"

"Right," she only needed that before she could carry on. She wouldn't print them all, only some of them, but still as they came out of the printer, she looked pleased. "It's just like I imagined them…"

"Can I see?" he asked, stepping up, only to find himself almost gut punched when she turned at the same time to stop him.

"You have to study…" she gasped when he grunted and backpedalled. "I'm so sorry! I didn't… Are you okay?" she cringed, standing to go and make him sit.

"I'm fine, just need to breathe… Damn you're strong…" he told her.

"Self-defense," she explained. She stroked his cheek, leaning to kiss the top of his head. "I'm sorry," she repeated, while he wrapped one arm around her, breathing along.

"Don't worry about it," he promised, lightly running his thumb along at the small of her back. They were quiet for a beat, then she decided.

"Well since I kind of assaulted you, I think you deserve a study break." He looked up at her, wondering if she actually meant… "You can help me decide which pictures I'll print." He looked back to the computer, smiled up to her.

"Alright," he nodded.

'In compensation for his injury,' she had let him sit at her desk while she stood over his shoulder. He would hardly complain, as this meant she would be right up there at his side, where he could take in the scent of her, feel her brush against him from time to time…

"Do you know how bad I want to kiss you right now?" he couldn't stop himself asking eventually. She smiled, leaning in to grant him one quick peck.

"After," she promised, so they got back to selecting. Puck did his best to focus, though now she remained plastered at his side, to the point where he wondered if she wasn't messing with him. "There, I think that's all of them…" She would finally stand back to get the pictures from her printer.

"Can we print another copy of these?" he pointed to the screen, to the pictures of her, and her and him.

"For you?" she asked with a smirk and he shrugged innocently. "I suppose we can do that… You're not going to do anything… you know…" she blushed even if she tried to hide it. "I mean, if you're going to… think that way about me, I'd rather it was… with… me," she declared, and he paused when she looked back to him. She came back up to him, smiling. "Hey, Noah?"

"Y… Yeah?" He'd never had a girl make him this nervous.

"It's 'after' now…"

THE END

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******A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
****In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
************always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!**


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